Investigators arrested a 27-year-old Norco felon and seized several weapons — including a loaded AR-15 — after authorities said the man made social media threats to shoot up a local college campus.
Jacob Ryan McBain was arrested on suspicion of making terrorist threats and being a felon in possession of a firearm and was booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside.
Riverside County sheriff’s Norco station investigators were tipped off Monday morning to a series of threats made on social media against a local college campus, according to a sheriff’s statement. Authorities did not identify the school.
Investigators tracked the threats to McBain’s Facebook page, where officials said he posted that he intended on shooting people at the school.
“The threats were deemed credible and the Norco Special Enforcement Team deputies, along with detectives assigned to the Jurupa Valley station Investigations Bureau, initiated a detailed and expansive investigation,” the sheriff’s statement said.
Local school district and college officials were notified of the investigation, even though there was no school Monday.
With help from the Joint Terrorism Task Force — which includes the FBI, San Bernardino Police Department, Naval Criminal Investigative Services, and assistance from Riverside Community College District police, sheriff’s investigators tracked McBain down to a home in the 5000 block of Trail Street in Norco, officials said.
Detectives secured and served a search warrant at his home, where they detained and arrested the 27-year-old and found a loaded AR-15, two loaded handguns, and a large amount of ammunition, sheriff’s authorities said.
There have been a series of arrests and investigations launched in Southern California linked to threats made to schools and colleges in the wake of the Feb. 14 shooting at a Florida high school that killed 17 students and staff .
Authorities ask anyone with any information on the investigation is asked to call Deputy Robertson at the Norco Sheriff’s Office at 951-270-5673.